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A new initiative is helping food service establishments think beyond single-use plastics

Ordering takeout from your favorite neighborhood spot is a treat. What’s not a treat? The disposable packaging that’s used for pretty much every to-go order. Whether you’re digging into a burger and fries or summer rolls and pad see ew, what you’re left with is a heap of unrecyclable trash that’s problematic for both the

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Haitian baker connects to her traditions and heritage

Estere Alveno-Marius remembers the first time she tasted comparette (also known as konparèt), the sweetly spiced gingerbread-like treat that originated in Jérémie, the capital of Haiti’s Grand’Anse region. A friend visiting Alveno-Marius in her hometown of Saint-Louis-du-Sud brought the pastry as a gift. One taste and Alveno-Marius understood how the fragrant coconut sweet bun got

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Fishtown Pickle Project highlights local seasonal produce and bold flavors with collaborations for a cause

On a typical Monday at Fishtown Pickle Project, cucumbers are everywhere: being rinsed, flying through the spear cutter—affectionately named Britney Spears—and getting stuffed into jars with garlic and seasonings. The aroma of vinegar wafts down the hallways of their manufacturing center in the Globe Dye Works building in Frankford, where the staff processes roughly 3,000

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Phoenixville kombucha brewer showcases local flavors with health-forward fermented beverages

Olga Sorzano has a simple mission of making delicious, farm-to-bottle kombucha. In the ten years since she founded Baba’s Brew, the brand has bloomed, with a new boosted kombucha flavor hitting shelves, and even more new product ventures on the way. Baba’s Brew is named after Sorzano’s grandmother, whose portrait hangs on the wall behind

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Washington, D.C.’s compost pick-up pilot is small but promising. Philadelphia should do something similar

My last three columns have focused on ways that Philadelphia could launch or expand food scrap drop-off programs. And drop-off programs are the place to start. They build awareness, provide an option for motivated citizens who can’t afford private collection services, and they have relatively low operation costs. But when I saw that Washington, D.C.,

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Is expansion of community composting — access and capacity — the answer to Philly’s food waste conundrum?

In my previous two columns, I discussed a number of ways that the City could launch composting drop-off programs, either on its own or in partnership with private composting companies. A third way forward would be an expansion of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s Farm Philly Community Compost Network. Based on a program in Washington, D.C.,

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